The buck stops here: Zoning official ticketed for euthanizing deer

Published 8:51 pm, Thursday, February 27, 2014

Courtesy Stephan Devoto
Middletown Planning and Zoning Commissioner Stephan Devoto came upon this mortally wounded buck last year near Mount Higby and euthanized him.

Courtesy Stephan Devoto
Middletown Planning and Zoning Commissioner Stephan Devoto came upon this mortally wounded buck last year near Mount Higby and euthanized him.

Photo: Journal Register Co.

The buck stops here: Zoning official ticketed for euthanizing deer

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MIDDLETOWN >> As the weather gets warmer and more wildlife comes out to play, local and state officials urge caution for residents and motorists.

And if you come across a wounded animal, officials say, call the professionals to deal with it.

At least one city resident — and elected official — has recently learned that lesson the hard way.

Stephen Devoto, a Wesleyan University professor and planning and zoning commissioner, euthanized a deer immobilized by an imprecise gunshot. An anonymous tip to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection prompted an investigation.

Devoto wrote on a private online blog — one that does not appear in normal web searches — about his Dec. 4 encounter with the wounded animal.

In it, he recounts how he had been out for a run near Mount Higby when he came upon two women, regular users of that particular trail, who told him that a young buck was lying wounded in a creek bed. He found it soon after lying on the forest floor. “To my surprise, the buck was still alive, breathing steadily but so weak he barely lifted his head,” Devoto wrote.

An experienced livestock farmer, he retrieved tools, put down the animal and, while harvesting the meat, discovered the source of the beast’s affliction. “The bullet passed through the very back of his big leg muscle, through his abdomen, and then out the other side,” Devoto wrote. “It was a horrible shot by a very bad hunter. He (she?) was shamefully irresponsible to have taken the shot and then shamefully irresponsible to have lost the deer, which suffered for at least a day and perhaps longer.”

That might have been the end of the saga, but some civic-minded individual had been keeping close tabs on Devoto and dropped a dime to the DEEP.

“We received an anonymous complaint on our turn-in-poachers hotline, which sent us a link,” said Col. Kyle Overturf, who works in DEEP’s law enforcement division. An officer interviewed Devoto, and “based on the circumstances, we felt that just a written warning for those actions was warranted.”

Last September, Devoto won the Democratic primary after his party failed to nominate him for a planning and zoning board seat. In November, he was the top vote-getter elected to the commission but later failed to get enough votes to be elected chair of P&Z.

Devoto wrote a follow-up entry in his blog about the wildlife incident, outlining the two lessons he learned from his encounter with the deer — first, that when you chance upon a wounded animal, even if it’s not expedient, you should call the authorities, either local police or the DEEP.

“Second, there is one pathetic person who reads” his private board.

Gail Petras, the city’s animal control officer, said that gunshot wounds are unusual — in fact, she did not recall any recent reports of animals hit with careless bullets.

“I see pretty often that police officers are out with car versus deer,” said Petras. “I often get called to sick animal calls.”

Overturf said DEEP occasionally gets reports of deer found dead in unexpected places, wounded by “a hunter or otherwise” before wandering off and eventually expiring.

“If it’s a hunting-related matter, you should call us,” said Overturf. “We will go and evaluate the situation, either dispatch the deer or whatever action needs to be taken.”

Deer hunting is allowed with restrictions in the city’s Maromas district.

Overturf echoed Petras’ evaluation of deer and cars — that there are lots of deer killed by motor vehicles every year.

Motorists are allowed to harvest meat after an accident, but must contact local or state authorities to fill out an incident report first, said Overturf.

The whole fiasco left Devoto scratching his head. “I suspect that there are people who don’t have a life,” he said, pointing out that his private board — usually only read by two to three people — had dozens of hits on the entry about the deer. “I got a chuckle out of it when I got the phone call.”

The investigating officer “knew I was trying to do the right thing for the deer. Since I had told the truth and admitted to it, he would only give me a warning,” wrote Devoto.